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Carolina Challenge Cup Conundrum

Carolina Challenge Cup Conundrum

Even if its a preseason tournament, its nice to see the Fire atop these standings:

Team

GP

W

L

D

Pts.

GF

GA

GD

Chicago Fire

2

2

0

0

6

5

3

+2

Houston Dynamo

2

1

1

0

3

4

4

0

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

2

1

1

0

3

4

4

0

Charleston Battery

2

0

2

0

0

3

5

-2

But as I spoke to Chicago-Fire.com contributor Irish Steve Thursday about the scenarios for the team to clinch the Carolina Challenge Cup Saturday, one potential scenario had my head spinning.

To be clear, with two wins in their pocket, a draw or win in Saturday's first game vs. Vancouver (live at 4:00pm on Chicago-Fire.com) would give the Fire their first Challenge Cup title.

But should the team lose, say 1-0 to Vancouver and Houston beat Charleston by the same score in the tournament finale, the Fire, Dynamo and Whitecaps would then be tied not only on points, goal difference (first tie breaker), goals scored (second tie breaker) and goals against (third tie breaker).

Under that scenario, the table would look like this:

Team

GP

W

L

D

Pts.

GF

GA

GD

Chicago Fire

3

2

1

0

6

5

4

+1

Houston Dynamo

3

2

1

0

6

5

4

+1

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

3

2

1

0

6

5

4

+1

Charleston Battery

3

0

3

0

0

3

6

-3

Head-to-head would be next best solution, right?

Well consider in that circumstance the Fire beat the Dynamo (3-2 win), the Dynamo beat Whitecaps FC (2-1 win) and potentially Whitecaps FC would have beaten the Fire (1-0 win), i.e., they would all share three points in the mini-group between the three MLS teams.

With the results of each matchday pairing with each other, the goal difference in the mini-group would be even but then, the next most logical tie-breaker (what I would call the seventh tie breaker) would be goals scored in the mini-group, which would potentially give Houston the title.

Team

GP

W

L

D

Pts.

GF

GA

GD

Houston Dynamo

2

1

1

0

3

5

5

0

Chicago Fire

2

1

1

0

3

3

3

0

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

2

1

1

0

3

2

2

0

However, after speaking to Battery President Andrew Bell post-game Wednesday, it seems the tie-breaking procedures beyond goals against are pretty fuzzy...

Good reason for the Fire to take care of business against Vancouver Saturday afternoon, though I hear Frank Klopas is pretty lucky in coin flips!